Rotary cleaning tool



' June 21,1949. v GHLOESER ETA.. l 2,473,654 v ROTARY CLEANINGV TOOL Filed Nov. 25, 1944 1,9 25 7 le /5 o r vucnofb George B12049662. l Uares. 6.',

Patented JuneZl, 1949 ROTARY CLEANING TOOL George H. Loeser, Malden, and Charles C. Gangie,

Woburn, Mass., assignors to United-Carr Fastener Corporation, Cambridge, Mails.,` a cor:- poration of Massachusetts Application November 23, 1944, Serial No. 564,887

The present invention relates to Acleaning tools and particularly rotary cleaning tools of the type designed to be used with a portable motor driven tool for cleaning cylindrical objects of various types, for example electro-plating rack pins.

In the process of electro-plating metal articles a number of articles to be plated are usually mounted on a rack that is immersed during the plating process. One form of rack extensively used in this work comprises a frame having mounted therein a number of U-shaped copper wire pins, the articles to be plated being supported by the tines of the pins. In order to prevent the rack and pins from robbing the bath of the plating metal, they are usually givenl a coating of heavy shellac which eectively prevents the depositing of the plating metal upon the rack and pins. However, the metal article to be plated must have electrical contact with the pins and hence it is necessary to remove the shellac coating from the end portions of th'e pins prior to assembly thereon of the articles to be plated.

Heretofore, the s'hellac coating has been removed from the pin ends manually by means of a pair of pliers or like tool, the operator manually rotating the tool back and forth on the pin ends. This was notl only a slow, laborious operation but frequently did not produce a uniformly clean surface on the pins.

The present invention aims to overcome the above stated objection of cleaning plating rack pins and like objects, by the provision of a rotary cleaning tool adapted to be connected to and driven by a portable motor-driven tool, to quickly and uniformly clean the desired surfaces.

In order better to illustrate the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and annexed description illustrating and describing a preferred form of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the rotary cleaning tool of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view theref:

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view as taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig, 4 is a horizontal sectional view as taken on the line I-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail sectional view illustrating the cleaning action of one of the cutters on a pin; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a preferred manner of using the tool to clean plating rack pins.

The rotary cleaning tool of the present inven- Cil tion comprises a cutting body I0, which may be substantially cylindrical in shape and formed of suitable hard tool steel, having at one end a shank II adapted to be inserted in the chuck I2 of a portable electric motor-driven tool I3 of any suitable type. l

The tool body I0 is formed with an axial workreceiving bore I5 opening through the end of the tool opposite the shank II, and opposite sides of the body I0 are relieved or cut out as at I6 from the periphery thereof to the bore l5 to provide a plurality of segments I1. The side faces of the segments I1 maybe radii of the cylindrical tool body I 0, and the leading inner edge I8 (s'ee Fig. 5) is formed as a cutting edge, spaced from the axial center of the tool body a distance equal to the radii of the finished pin or article to 'be cleaned. The inner arcuate surface I9 of the segments Il is preferably of somewhat greater radius than the Work to be cleaned and is relieved outwardly from the work surface so as to form with the leading radial face oi' the segment the sharp cutting edge I8.

The inner, end of the bore I5 opens into an enlarged clean-out opening 20 for the reception of accumulated scrapings or shavings which tend to work axially in the bore I5. The clean-out opening 20 is of such size as to accommodate scrapings fed along the bore I5 as fast as they are formed, and thus the bore is kept free of accumulations of scraped material, such as lacquer which other- Wise might impede passage of the pin or work article W therein.

The tool body is thus characterized as a rotating body formed with a plurality of 'spaced segmental vanes, the inner leading edges of which engage the work and are cutting edges. The material removed from the work in the form of shavings or scrapings is 'ejectedfrom the tool by the leading segmental faces of the spaced vanes, and such material as is ejected from the cleanout opening is ejected by the curved sloping face 2l extending from the edges of the clean-out opening to the peripheral surfaces of the tool between the segments.

The tool operates most satisfactorily when rotated at speeds of from approximately 1700 R.-

P. M. to 2500 R. P. M., particularly when used to remove a lacquer coating from cylindrical work.

This, as stated above, is readily effected by mounting the shank II of thetool in a. chuck I2 of a portable motor-driven tool I3 or the like by means of which the tool may be applied to the work W, whici may be a plating rack pin as illustrated in Fig.

The invention further includes a centering guide on the tool adjacent the open end oi the bore Il to quickly and readily center the tool with respect to the work and guide the work to the bore II. The centering guide may comprise a head 22 having an annular skirt 23 secured to the tool body by suitable means, as for example, pins 2l. The outer end face 25 is concaved and slopes inwardly to a guide opening 2B in 4axial alignment with the bore l5. Thus, as the rotating tool is applied to the work W, the -rotating concaved face 2l iirst engages the end of the work and guides the work to the guide opening 2i where it may enter the bore Il. v

Our invention has proved extremely useful in practice in materially reducing the time required for cleaning cylindrical objects such as plating rack pins. The tool is simple in construction, economical of manufacture and long lasting in use.

It will be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to the details of construction Shown and described as the scope of the invention is best defined in the appended claims.

-We claim: l

1. A rotary cleaning tool comprising a steel body provided with an axial work-receiving bore and an annular series of circumierentially spaced segments around the bore, cutters on the leading inner edges of said segments, a clean-out opening at the inner end of and at an angle to the bore, the sides of said segments sloping from the periphery of the body to the bore and wall of said clean-out opening to discharge shavings removed by' said cutters and one of said sides having a curved surface adjacent the inner end of said bore.

2. A rotary cleaning tool comprising 4a body formed with an axial work-receiving bore, por- .4 tions oi the sides oi said body being removed from the periphery inwardly to the bore to provide intermediate segmental sections arranged about the bore, integral edges oi said segments constituting scraping edges for engagement with work ted progressively longitudinally in the boro, and said tool being formed with an enlarged clean-out opening connecting with the inner end of the bore.

3. A rotary cleaning tool comprising a body formed with an axial work-receiving bore, portions oi the sides of said body being removed from the periphery4 inwardly to the bore to provide intermediate segmental sections arranged about the bore, integral edges of said segments constituting scraping edges for engagement with work fed progressively longitudinally in the bore, an'd said `tool being formed with an enlarged clean-out opening connecting with the inner end of the bore, and said tool having a curved sloping face adjacent said clean-out opening.

GEORGE H. LOEBER.

CHARLES C. GANGIE.

REFERENCES CITED "ihe following references are of recordin the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,006,410 Schaub Oct. 7, 1911 1,023,829 Felt Apr. 23, 1912 1,381,347 Schaller June 14, 1921 1,391,141 Paulson Sept. 10, 1921 1,535,024 Kranz et al. Apr. 21, 1925 1,585,392 Lathrop May 18, 1926 1,625,930 Astrom May 26, 1927 1,640,693 Couch Aug; 30, 1927 1,932,827 Morris Oct. 31, 1933 

